(Pictures: Grace with some neighborhood girls- Tswa is the one on the left; Double bath time!)
Some people are harder to love than others. But God calls us to love all, not just our friends and family, but everyone—our enemies and the difficult. Love isn’t always something we feel, it’s a choice.
We’ve told you before about a little girl that we have called Tswa. (see post from Feb 12). In many ways she is completely loveable. She is a cute, always-smiling, inquisitive, quick to laugh three year old. What’s not to love? She loves to come to our house and play. She comes all the time- multiple times a day. She comes in without a word, so we’ll be in one of the back rooms and suddenly Tswa is there and we’re left to wonder how long she has been in the house. This might not be so bad, but Tswa needs supervision. She gets into everything and we’ve caught her pocketing stuff and walking home with it. We can leave Grace alone in a room, but we can’t leave Tswa in the house unsupervised. She is almost always filthy, leaving dirt marks wherever her feet walk or fingers touch. She is often sick, covered in snot and coughing with abandon all over us. She (and her one year old sister who sometimes toddles in behind her) often reeks of urine. And finally she doesn’t obey well, she has no supervision or discipline from home and our increasingly stern voices don’t have much effect.
Sometimes when she appears in our house, we groan. “Not again,” we may sigh to ourselves. But we have been challenged this week to love her more. This is a little girl that needs love. We have received unending love. Why not let it flow out of us and into this needy child? We’ve decided we want to be parents to her when she is in our house, and show her some of the great love that has been shown to us.
She came over yesterday—blackened like she had been rolling in charcoal or something like it. We quickly “Tswa-proofed the house” closing the doors to bedrooms and the kitchen and putting some things out of reach. Tom got a towel and washed her hands and her face. She seemed grateful for the attention. We made her and Grace sit down together to eat a snack and when more kids from the 2-3 year old gang came along we had them play outside.
There will no doubt still be frustrating days with Tswa and days when have to ask her to leave, but we have made a critical change- by God’s grace, we have made the choice to leave behind the irritation and frustration and to try to love and care for her,
PRAYERS ANSWERED
Tom’s first “vacation” class went well, as are his other classes. We continue to be healthy (it is easy to take this for granted). Two of our team members are celebrating birthdays this week. We thank God for Abby and Joshie (turns 3)!
PRAYERS REQUESTED
Please pray for Tswa and her family and us as we try to love our neighbors here. Tom’s parents and sister are coming to visit! They arrive this Saturday. Please pray for their safe travel (starting on Thursday) and their adjustment.
